Door-operating device



(No-Model.)

DOOR OPERATING DEVICE.

No. 530,952. Patented Dec. 18,1894.

Q w I Im EHZ/W KHZ/755555 (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. 0. LUCAS. DOOR OPERATING DEVICE. No. 530,952. Patented Dec. 18, 1894.

RAE/755555 EVE/ELM? zww 4am UNITED STATES PATE T -OFFlCE.

WILLIAM C. LUCAS, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

DOOR-OPERATING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,952, dated December 18, 1894.

Application filed December 19, 1893. Serial No. 494,051- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. LUCAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Operating Devices, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in door operating devices for opening and closing the doors of carriage or wagon houses in fire or police departments, and analogous uses, and the objects of my improvements are simplicity and economy in construction, convenience and efficiency in use and to provide a durable apparatus for this purpose.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of my door closing device as viewed from the inside, portions of the casing being removed in order to better show the parts, the closing weights being shown as raised ready for use. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of one door and connected parts in proper position, although some of the supports for said parts are not shown.

Fig. 3 is an inside view of the weight closet and weights on one side, the closing weights being shown as having been lowered by the act of closing the door. Fig. 4 is a plan view of devices underneath the floor for tripping the weight holding catch. Fig. 5 is a still further enlarged side elevation of the latch for locking the doors, together with an edge view of the upper part of one door. Fig. 6 is a verticial section of the door closing Weights and adjacent parts, and Fig. 7 is a plan View of said weights, together with a horizontal secion of the weight guides or ways.

A, A designate the double doors upon each of which is a bracket 8 having attached thereto a cord, chain or cable 9 which extends around a suitable pulley or guide 10 in a proper position for pulling the door open, and then around an overhead pulley 11 from which it extends downwardly to the door opening weight 12. The other end 13 of the same cord, or a similar cord extends around the pulley 14 to the overhead pulley 15 and thence downwardly to the door closing weights 16 and 17. I connect this cord to the weights in such manner that it may slide through them, and secure to the lower end of the cord a small weight 18 .which answers as'a knot for suspending the weights on the cord and also serves to keep the cord taut when the closing weights are at rest in their elevated position. v

19 designates a weight supporting catch hung in suitable bearings in the frame and connected with an operating lever 20 that is pulled in one direction by a spring 21 and in the opposite direction by a wire or rod 22 connected to the lever 20 by one end and by the other end to the lever 23 in the upper part of the weight closet. The opposite end of this lever 23 is connected by means of a Wire or rod 24 with an angle lever 25 arranged underneath the floor B. The other arm of this angle lever is connected by a wire 26 with a second angle lever 27, whose second arm is connected by another wire 28 to the trip but ton 29. r

The doors A, A are held in their closed position by means of a latch 30, the end of which is wide enough to engage both doors. This latch is forced downwardly to hold it in engagement by means of a spring 31, and may be operated to disengage it from the doors by the pull wire 32 which extends from an angle arm 33 Fig. 5 of said latch. Said latch may also be lifted by means of the rod 34 having a handle 35 which comes down upon one of the doors far enough to be within reach of an operator when standing on the floor. A portion of the ways which guide the weights 16 and 17 are represented as broken away in Fig. 3 in order to show a full view of the weights. The casing is provided with a fixed stop 36 placed in such a position as to catch upon the weight 16 and stop it at a certain point, while the lower weight 17 is of less thickness or projects less on the side facing the stop, so that said lower weight can pass the stop 36, as shown in Fig. 3. Ipret'er to groove the upper weight 16 as at 37 in the path of the weight supporting catch, so that said catch cannever stop the upper weight alone. A like groove is provided through the main portion of the weight 17, while at its low'er end is a small projection 38 that comes in the path of the catch 19 so that when both weights are lifted above this catch, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, they will be held in their elevated position.

When it is desired to drive the engine, police'wagon or other carriage out through the ICC doors, a. person on the carriage reaches up to the pull wire 32 and releases the latch 30 from in front of the doors. The door opening weights 12 then pull upon the cord and throw the door open. At the rear of the vehicle, a cord is attached with a slip knot to the trip button 29 in such a way that as soon as the rear wheels of the vehicle have passed the door sill, said trip button is pulled upon suflzlciently to operate the weight holding latch 19, through the various wires and angle levers to release the door closing weights. After thus pulling on the trip button to release the catch, the slip knot on the rope releases itself from said button so that the carriage can pass on. Such slip knots in connection with other tripping devices are old and well known, and therefore need not be specifically described. When the doors are opened by the opening weights 12, the cord 13 is operated upon so as to bring the small weight 18 up underneath the weight 17, the cord sliding through the weights without moving them. The door closing weights being now released, immediately engage the small or knot Weight 18 and pull upon the cord 13, thereby immediately closing the door. Both weights descend together so as to give an impetus to the door, but in order to prevent a severe shock in closing the door, the upper weight 16 is stopped by the stop 36, somewhat in advance of the door being closed, while the weight 17 still continues to descend with force enough to completely close the door, but without slamming it; but the weight 17 is not heavy enough so that it would alone close the door did it not have the assistance of the weight 16. After the door is thus closed, the door closing weights 16 and 17 are lifted from the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Figs. 1 and 6, when the door is again ready to be operated in the manner before described. In order to open the door to admit the carriage on its return, an operator may lift the latch 30 by the rod 34 and handle 35 in the manner before described and this may be done before or after the door closing weights are reset. If the cord is short enough the act of fully opening the doorwhen the weights are down will reset them. The weights are lifted by hand for resetting them when the door is closed. In thus opening and closing the door after the weights are set, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, the opening weights 12 will operate to open the door, or will drop when the door is being opened, and the door must be closed by pushing it to place, the small weight 18, which keeps the cord taut, rising and falling as the door is opened and closed, the cord being relieved entirely from any weight or strain of the door closing weights 16 and 17 until such time as the catch 19 is operated to bring said weights into action.

My attachment is applicable to either single or double doors but with double doors some provision should be made for closing one door a little in advance of the other. This inay be accomplished by making the Weights for one door heavier, or by tripping one weight holding catch a little in advance of the other.

I have described the door holding latch in order to show an operative device, as some kind of a door holding device would be necessary, but the particular kind of door holding latch which shall be employed is wholly immaterial to my invention, and any other door holding device is considered an equivalent to that herein shown. I have also shown the sliding connection of the cord with the weights 16 and 17 as made by passing the cords through a perforation in the said weights but other sliding connection of the cord and weight may be made, it only being necessary that the cord shall slide freely past the weights when they are held at rest and that the weights be thrown upon the cord when the catch is released. In my description I have followed but one door and the parts connected therewith, but it should be understood that bothdoors have like weights, cords and connections, with the exception of the holding latch and its operating mechanism, as only one such latch is necessary for both doors.

It is evident that for the purpose of closing the door only, if the weight holding catch were made to engage the upper instead of the lower one of the weights 16 and 17, it would not be necessary to slidingly connect said lower weight with the cord and that the small weight 18 could be omitted, but I prefer the arrangement first described.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a door closing device, the combination of two weights, a suspension cord with which the upper weight is slidingly connected and a stop for limiting the downward motion of the upper weight before the lower weight has completed its stroke, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

2. In a door closing device, the combination of suitable ways or guides, a weight holding catch supported in position adjacent to said guides, the weight 17 having the catch engaging projection 38 whose path is in line with the engaging position of said catch while all portions of said weight in the line of and above said projection are without said path, and the weight 16 all portions of which are without said path substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

3. In a door closing device, the combination of an upper and lower weight, a catch for holding said weights at rest in an elevated position, a door closing cord slidingly connected with the upper one of said weights, and a stop for limiting the downward motion of the upper weight before the lower weight has completed its stroke, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

WILLIAM C. LUCAS.

Witnesses:

EDWIN R. CROOKER, FRED J. HUBBARD.

IIO 

